Shiv Khanna — the propeller behind wheelchair tennis in India

Shiv Khanna and his father Vidur Khanna with the leading wheelchair tennis players of the country in Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Shiv Khanna is an 11th-standard student of the Sanskriti School in Delhi. Like most of the young tennis players, he has Roger Federer as his idol. His doting father Vidur Khanna, a successful businessman in the jewellery and hospitality sector, took his son to Wimbledon a few years ago. The boy ended up watching Rafael Nadal in action on the Centre Court.

So what is special? The boy is not a prodigy even though he is dedicated to tennis and has been training for the last few years for around four hours with coach Gaurav Sharma every day.

Unlike every other boy who is passionate about growing in the sport and having dreams of competing in Wimbledon some day, Shiv is driven by his enthusiasm to support wheelchair tennis in the country. It is rare to find a young tennis player like him who wants to light up the lives of others.

“In Wimbledon, I saw wheelchair tennis for the first time. I was fascinated,” recalled Shiv after successfully hosting a wheelchair tournament in Delhi for the second time recently.

“Last year, we did the tournament in a hurry. This year we planned it better. We messaged family and friends to raise money. Next year, we want to host an ITF tournament for wheelchair players so that they can improve their world ranking,” said Shiv, who has launched a foundation, Aces on Wheels, to support wheelchair tennis.

“This year, we had 21 men and five women in the fray. We want to do everything possible to help more play the game, give them all support in terms of better infrastructure, better quality wheelchairs, better training. Most of the players are from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Maybe, next year we will do a tournament in Bengaluru or Chennai to help players avoid long travel,” said Shiv, revealing his plans — remarkable indeed for a boy so young.

Vidur, Shiv’s father, has helped his son find support in a professional way. He has opened a website acesonwheels.com to post the inspirational stories of the four leading players in the country — Balachandar Subramanian, Karthik Karunakaran, Shekar Veeraswamy and Durai Mariappan. Though the website remains a work in progress, like the project itself, it has already attracted many eyeballs.

“Shiv’s dream has become our dream. We have jumped into this project with all our heart. Last year was a stepping stone for us to understand the sport and the players. We have spoken to the players, including the women, to understand their challenges. We have been joined by others with the same passion to take Indian wheelchair tennis forward,” said Vidur.

Shiv Khanna with AITA president Anil Jain, DLTA president Rohit Rajpal presenting the winner’s cheque to Karthik Karunakaran in Delhi.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

As much as they are keen to making more tennis courts across the country accessible for wheelchair players, the father-son duo is particularly interested in getting more women to play the game.

“We have an entrepreneur Nalina Kumari. She plays the game and also tries to support the wheelchair community. Our best woman player is K.P. Shilpa. She wants to be in the top-50 in the world,” said Vidur.

Shilpa, ranked a career-best 126 last year, has been playing on the international circuit from 2014. She has competed mostly in Malaysia and Thailand apart from figuring in two tournaments in Australia last year. International wheelchair tennis events in India could be a major support for players like Shilpa to improve their world standings.

The wheelchair makes a world of difference.

“In the final, you could easily make out the difference between the wheelchairs used by Karthik and Shekar. Karthik had imported his wheelchair from London. It costs more than five lakhs. Shekar is very talented but he could not be that quick with his wheelchair which costs around ₹50,000,” explained Vidur.

There are many hurdles for wheelchair players, but Shiv and his father are determined to devote time and energy to mobilise resources for boosting and sustaining the growth of wheelchair tennis in the country.